Thank you for your comment...
Actually i am not playing much nowadays but when I do I play in Athens in Greece where I live...
But If you want my suggestion to see the best players in the world I highly recommend the Steinway Cafe Billiards at Astoria... It is said that is the best pool hall on earth...
Fb link: https://www.facebook.com/pg/Steinway...=page_internal

I would like to ask about the mentality you have on the last part of a competition.. Since i was 16 i've been joining pool tournaments(9 ball/8 ball). I always get shot down on the last 8 or last 16. my room is filled with small medals and trophy for lasting that long but i can never get to the semi or final table.. im nearing my 40s now and i give up aiming for a champion trophy, just want to know what is your mental thoughts when playing.

What you describe is something that many players go through. And many of them can never overcome.
The mental issue you have is that propably after getting beaten time after time in the last 16, now you don't believe enough to yourself to win those critical matches.
What you can do is to face this fear everyday and get good friends with it.
At first you have to get used to play more games with pressure.
You can do that with many ways even when you practise alone. Let's say for example you are playing 14.1 for practise. If your biggest run is 35 balls try to break this record again and again and again. If 14.1 is difficult for you try pocket 15 ball like 14.1 but open at the table and when you pocket them all do it again from the start, just KEEP RECORD.
By doing that you will face the same fears and thoughts you face on the last 16th and lose.
Secondly you can play challenge matches and bet enough to care about the match so you can get used to be fully concentrated and pressured at the same time. The most mental tough players i know are playing challenge matches (Ofcourse in rational ranges and always with someone that you are on the same level, not a better one nor a wrst either).
You need to get familiar with pressure in order to excrete your old way of thinking.
Last but not least play as much tournaments as you can in a short period of time.
If you do all these you will definetely become mentally tougher even if you don't win a single match, your way of thinking will change and you ll become more focused overall.

*Pool players many times believe that if they win at pool that makes them better persons, and the opposite tends to happen if they lose but this couldn't be further from truth.

Secondly you can play challenge matches and bet enough to care about the match so you can get used to be fully concentrated and pressured at the same time. The most mental tough players i know are playing challenge matches (Ofcourse in rational ranges and always with someone that you are on the same level, not a better one nor a wrst either).

This i used to do and i still do it sometimes.In college, i used to do it for extra money.
thanks for the advice ill try them out. For now its just a hobby but if it was a decade back maybe i would have wanted to go pro.

When a golf pro was asked how he handles being on the final hole and needing a par or whatever to win, how does he deal with the pressure and still find the fairway on the tee shot or making that 6 footer I will never forget what he said:

"The difference for me is that I want to be in that situation. I look forward to it and expect it. So when I find myself there, I am ready for it. The people out there that don't like that pressure and don't want it are in need of a different career choice."

Some people just can't find a way around it and that is what stops them from every achieving the winners circle. At the end of the day that really is the decision maker.

This topic is also my own biggest stumbling block right now. I'm afraid OP's answer of, "Play for $$$, play in tourneys, get experience under fire," was fine for him, but would do me no good at all. The pressure I feel in those spots is 100% internal. It doesn't feel any different in practice.

HGR feels it in the final stages of tournaments--I feel it at the end of racks and runs. I play 8-ball these days, and I'm so relaxed at the start of a run-out: "If I get out of shape here, I can always find another shot." But when you're down to the last 2-3 balls, and that safety net is taken away, I'm Nervous Nellie, and hit shots so poorly, you wonder what happened to the guy who made the first five shots this very inning.

In another thread, I mentioned a book I read recently on this subject, "The Art of Mental Training." Applying the techniques taught in this book has helped me dramatically, but I still have a ways to go before they become automatic and this issue becomes a thing of the past.

I feel it at the end of racks and runs. I play 8-ball these days, and I'm so relaxed at the start of a run-out: "If I get out of shape here, I can always find another shot."

Maybe this is your problem. Stop thinking like that at the beginning of a runout. Every shot you take should have you thinking I need to be in perfect shape for this runout to work as planned. At the end of the day, the reality is that every time you get out of shape you are making the runout less likely to happen because you have to reroute to a less desired path. Original plan = easy out. Reroute = tough out. Having this mindset may get you more shots with the same amount of pressure on yourself and you will be more comfortable overall.